Beatles Final Paper

Anna White

Professor Roos

Study Abroad English

30 July 2011

“The Beatles (The White Album)” Analysis

In 1968 The Beatles released their ninth studio album that actually had no real title other than the bands name on the cover.  This double LP set is titled “The Beatles” but is commonly known by fans as “The White Album” because the album cover is just white with ‘The Beatles’ written on it. While in India in 1968, The Beatles seemed to have quite a few ideas for songs and for a new album.

“There’s about 35 songs we’ve got already, and a few of them are mine.  God knows which one of them will be the next single.  I suppose we’ve got a vague overall conception of the kind of album we want to do. But it takes time to work out…”
-George Harrison

             The boys began recording this album at EMI studios in London on May 20^th.  They finished recording on October 14^th 1968 and the album was released in a little over a month.

The very first song on the album is entitled “Back in the USSR” which begins with the sound of jet engines roaring.  Paul wrote this song while in Rishikesh, India studying Transcendental Meditation with the other band members and the Maharishi.  The song has a Beach Boys feel to it possibly because Mike Love (a member of the Beach Boys) was in India with them at the time the song was written.  Paul was definitely influenced by the Beach Boys and by Chuck Berry.  Berry had a song titled “Back in the USA” so this might have been Paul’s spin-off or parody of that. At the end of the song beginning at about 2:36 minutes in, there is a faint high-pitched sound that fades into the next song, “Dear Prudence”.

The second song on “The White Album”, “Dear Prudence”, was written by John, again while they were in India.  John wrote the song for a girl named Prudence Farrow, although she may not have known it at the time.  She was the younger sister of Mia Farrow who was a famous American actress.  Apparently she was so involved in her meditation that she would stay in the cottage they were living in and wouldn’t ever come out.  John and George were sent to try to get her to come out and John wrote “Dear Prudence” based on this event.  When Farrow found out later she was flattered.

Next comes “Glass Onion”, which happens to be one of my favorite songs on the album.  “Glass Onion” was written primarily by John and included Ringo on the drums for the first time on the album (Paul had filled in for “Back in the USSR” and “Dear Prudence”).  This song is particularly interesting to me because it took so much creativity to fit so many earlier song references into one song.  The earlier songs that are mentioned or have references to include “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “I Am the Walrus”, “Lady Madonna”, “The Fool on the Hill”, “Fixing a Hole”, “There’s a Place”, “I’m Looking Through You”, and “Within You Without You”.  For this song, George Martin had arranged a group of stringed instruments to play behind the band, which gives the song a little something extra.

The fourth song, “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” to any Beatles fan is obviously a song written primarily by Paul.  Right in the very first line of the song he introduces two fictional characters, Desmond and Molly.  The song has a bit of a reggae feel, possibly because of its’ instrumentation but definitely because of the lyrics.  “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da life goes on, bra” was a phrase that Pauls’ Nigerian friend Jimmy Scott Emuakpor had used frequently.  Their surroundings and the people The Beatles met along their way to ultimate fame affected their song writing and even their musical composition.  John left during one of their recording sessions of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and came back a few hours later (after supposedly smoking marijuana) and began to play the piano part of the song much louder and faster than they had been playing it before.  He said he thought that was the way the song should have been played and the other members agreed and used that version.  Without the influence of Bob Dylan (who first introduced The Beatles to marijuana), there may have never been a successful finished version of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da!

The next song on the album is “Wild Honey Pie”, which is another one of Paul’s creations.  The song is only 53 seconds long and the only lyrics are the words ‘honey pie’ repeated about 8 times.  Looking at the album as a whole, this song seems a lot like filler and sort of a transition from “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” into “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”.

“The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” was a John written song and includes an appearance by Yoko Ono on vocals.  The song seems to tell a story about a fictional character, which is unlike Johns lyrical style and much more like Pauls’.  The real meaning behind the song has to do with people living along side the boys in India who would go hunt innocent tigers and then come back proud and boasting about their kills.  He created this ‘Bungalow Bill’ character to describe the actions of an American who came with his mother to the Maharishi’s meditation camp and would go out and hunt needlessly. 

“He went out tiger hunting with his elephant and gun in case of accidents he always took his mom.  He’s the all American bullet-headed saxon mother’s son”.

According to the book 100 Best Beatles Songs, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is listed as #10, which is pretty impressive since it was written and sung by the quiet Beatle, George! It’s also listed as #135 in the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  This song could be considered one of the most famous and well known from the whole album. In my opinion it really is one of the most beautifully written and performed songs of all time.  It’s 4 minutes and 45 seconds long, making it the longest song on the album.  Eric Clapton was a friend of George’s and he played lead guitar for this song.  Clapton wasn’t sure if he should play guitar for the song because he thought that no one could play with The Beatles, they were too big.  He was honored when George asked him to play on it.

The next song is yet another John song, “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”.  He thought of the title of the song from a gun magazine, he showed George Martin and he thought it was genius.  The lyrics are very inventive and seem to be left to the listener to determine what exactly they mean.  There are sort of three individual sections that are all put into one.  The first starting out with the lyrics ‘she’s not a girl who misses much’ and ‘she’s well aquainted with the touch of the velvet hand’ which are describing a woman that apparently was seen or created while on an acid trip.  The next section starts with distorted guitar and concludes with John singing ‘I need a fix cause I’m goin’ down, down to the bits that I left uptown’.  Finally it goes into the chorus that’s repeated a few times, ‘Mother Superior jumped the gun’ and ‘bang, bang, shoot, shoot’.  The last part of the song has a very doo-wop feel, possibly rooting back to John’s early teenage years and childhood, being influenced by doo-wop and early rock and roll music.

If listening to the LP version of The White Album, “Happiness Is A Warm Gun” is the last song on the first side of the first disc.  “Martha My Dear” is the next song (the first on side 2), or for the younger Beatles fans, the 9^th song on the CD.  This song was written and sung by Paul.  According to an interview with Playboy, John mentioned that he didn’t like the song, which isn’t really surprising when you consider the differing musical opinions of John and Paul later in their career and the bands mentality during this album.  The meaning behind “Martha My Dear” is unknown although there are a few ideas.  One is that it’s about his sheep dog Martha, the lyric ‘hold your head up you silly girl, look what you’ve done’ seems a bit like scolding a dog if you really think about it.  Another (more realistic) option of what the song is really about is Jane Asher.  Paul and Jane were supposed to be married in 1968 but they started seeing other people and it was called off.  The lyrics ‘Martha my dear, you have always been my inspiration please be good to me, Martha my love don’t forget me’ very well could be about their relationship.

“I’m So Tired” is the next song that was written by John while in India at one of their camps when he couldn’t sleep.  The lyrics are very simplistic and for the most part the music is very slow, alluding to the fact that John really was tired when he wrote it!  His insomnia and being so far away from Yoko was what inspired the song. “I’m So Tired” could be compared to his earlier song “I’m Only Sleeping” from the album Revolver.  The theme of his tiredness could really have something to do with his stress leading to insomnia.

“Blackbird” comes next and is listed as number 17 on the top 100 Beatles songs.  According to most fans, it’s definitely deserving of this position.  “Blackbird” was the first song written and recorded by just one Beatle, Paul.  The first three opening chords are copied from a composition of Bach, probably because Paul was especially partial to classical music.  In writing the song he said that he had an African American woman in mind, rather than a bird.  The civil rights movement was something that all four Beatles care passionately about so this song was Paul’s way of telling people to keep trying and never loose faith because there is hope for them. 

The next song has another animal title, “Piggies” and was written by George Harrison.  It includes a harpsichord and a string quartet.  There is one lyric from the song that was a bit controversial but neither Harrison, Lennon, or McCartney meant anything harmful by it.  ‘What they needs a damn good whacking’ was actually added in my Harrisons mother!

Next comes “Rocky Raccoon”.  This song has a more folk or country feel to it, and unfortunately did not make the top 100 Beatles songs.  It tells a story about a boy named Rocky Raccoon and the sort of love triangle he is involved in; once again a fictional story from Paul.  Paul created the characters Rocky, Magil (Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy), Dan (Danny Boy/Daniel), and the doctor (who came in stinking of gin) who seem to come to life while listening to the song.
            “His rival it seems had broken his dreams by stealing the girl of the fancy”

Following the short lived animal theme that Lennon and McCartney had created on the album is, “Don’t Pass Me By” by Ringo comes next.  It took him about five whole years to finally finish and get the song onto an album.  Although the song is still attributed to Lennon/McCartney, this one was all Ringo!  He sang, played drums and added in sleigh bells.  Neither John or George were included in the recording of this song but Paul played bass and piano.

Next comes, “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” which was supposedly written about two monkeys having sex in the middle of the street in Rishikesh, India.  This song surprisingly was written and sung by Paul and it was said that John was a bit jealous because it has more heavy rock feel.  He thought he could sing it better and that it was more his style.  The underlying competitiveness of John and Paul could be attributed to their success.  Each wanted to strive to be better than the other and ended up being the most famous and dynamic duo of all time! When the band broke up, this competitiveness was also prevalent in their solo careers.

Maybe as a way of redeeming himself from listeners who were offended by the previous song, Paul chooses “I Will” as the next song for the album.  On the Beatles Anthology Paul said that he had a song called “I Will” written while in India but didn’t have any lyrics for it.  This song is one of my favorites of Pauls’ because it’s one of the 16 Beatles songs that start out a cappella, which probably melted the hearts of quite a few young girls when it was first released!

Another kind-hearted song “Julia” was written by John about his mother Julia Lennon.  John sings and plays acoustic guitar.  This song could be compared to Pauls’ “Blackbird” because it was only one Beatle that sang and performed it.  In the very first sentence, John begins with, ‘Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you, Julia’, which to me alludes to the passing of his mother and how what he says now doesn’t matter but he wants to say it anyway because he loved her and grew closer to her right before she left him.

“Birthday” is the first song on side 3 of the LP and is also the first song of the second CD.  It is 99^th of the 100 top Beatles songs.  It has a quick tempo, fun lyrics, and a very traditional rock n’ roll feel to it. 

The next song, “Yer Blues” was written by John again while in India.  The lyrics are actually quite depressing and rather suicidal.  He gave it sort of a goofy title so that he could play it off as a parody if criticized for it.  The American blues feel that the song has seems to be a preview to Lennon’s later solo work.

“Yes I’m lonely, wanna die, Yes I’m lonely, wanna die, If I ain’t dead already, girl you know the reason why”.

After such a sad song, Paul follows with “Mother Nature’s Son” which was based upon a lecture givin by the Maharishi in India.  The final recorded version only includes Paul McCartney and George Martin along with a brass arrangement. 

The next song, “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey” was written by John and is about John and Yoko.  McCartney believed that the song had something to do with Lennons’ heroin addiction, ‘the monkey’ being his drug, but Lennon says otherwise.  In an interview Lennon mentioned that being in love made everything more clear and that he and Yoko noticed that everyone around them was concerned or stressing about something but they weren’t because they were happy and in love.

“Sexie Sadie” is the next song, another written by John.  This song was actually about the Maharishi but George requested that the song’s title be changed to “Sexie Sadie”.  The Beatles were famous for their ‘cover-ups’ and changing the gender of people in songs.  For example, in the song “She Said She Said” from Revolver, the person they’re referring to is actually a male.  The Maharishi allegedly made sexual advances on a few of the girls that were staying with the group in India and this angered the boys.  This song was directed toward him as can easily be seen in the lyrics, ‘sexy Sadie, you broke the rules you laid it down for all to see’ and ‘sexy Sadie, the greatest of them all’ ‘however big you think you are’.

Following “Sexie Sadie” comes “Helter Skelter”, yet another Paul song that John was jealous of.  Paul was very influenced by The Who for this song and Pete Townsend said the song was “the loudest raunchiest, most ridiculous rock song you’ve ever heard”.

Breaking the Lennon/McCartney pattern, next comes “Long, Long, Long” by George Harrison.  Harrison is known for his ambiguity in his songs (especially during his solo career with “All Things Must Pass”), people don’t seem to really know whether they’re love songs or spiritual songs.

“It’s been a long long long time, how could I ever have lost you when I loved you”

The final side of the second LP of “The White Album” begins with “Revolution 1” which includes deliberately distorted electric guitar and heavily squashed drums that were played through a mixing board.  John plays lead guitar and Nicky Hopkins (who played for The Who and The Rolling Stones) plays electric piano.  The song was released as the B-side of “Hey Jude” which made for a very popular single that was #1 in the US for 9 straight weeks.  According to Stephen J Spingnesi and Michael Lewis, authors of 100 Best Beatles Songs, “Revolution 1” “can be boiled down to this: “Yes, change is good, but unless you guys can come up with a system to replace the one you want to tear down, then ‘you can count me out’”.  John was very opinionated when it came to political ideas and this song proves his passion for peace and change but also his lack of motivation to do something about it.  A perfect example of this would be John and Yoko’s bed in demonstrations.  They were peaceful demonstrations but were unable to make a real difference in the world. 

            Next comes another Paul song, “Honey Pie”.  This song has a lazy, American vaudeville feel to it.  It seems very American and even talks about the girl becoming famous in the ‘U.S.A.’.

            Following “Honey Pie” comes another George Harrison song, “Savoy Truffle”.  He originally wrote the song as a tribute to his good friend Eric Clapton’s chocolate addiction!  Following the theme of diverse musical styles on the album, Harrison comes out with this sort of psychadelic, bluesy rock and roll song, which is quite unlike the songs before and after it. 

            After “Savoy Truffle”, comes “Cry Baby Cry”, another Lennon song.  Geoff Emerick quit during the recording of this song partly out of frustration because of the previously recorded songs “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da “ and “Revolution 1” that took some real work for the band to get through.  Arguments began and continued throughout the sessions.  It was said that Lennon got some of the words to “Cry Baby Cry” from an advertisement in a magazine.

Contrary to the previous “Revolution 1”, the next song is not listed on the top 100.  “Revolution 9” created primarily by John is known as one of the worst Beatles songs of all time!  His idea for the song was to create the vision of revolution using sound.  The song is actually just the last 6 minutes of “Revolution 1” that was cut off and made to fit into this last part of the album.  Using tape loops that were superimposed, backwards piano loops, and other strange noises including the repetitive ‘number nine’ spoken word, the song has no real singing, chord progression, any specific key, or even any easily definable instrument(s)!  Many fans would blame this mistake of a song on the influence that Yoko Ono had on John.

So as not to end on such a bad note, the album is finished with the song “Good Night”.  The second time Ringo appears as lead vocal; this song was written by Lennon as a lullaby for his son Julian.  It was given to Ringo to sing most likely because John didn’t want people to know he had such a sensitive side.  The fade out at the end of the song ends The Beatles The White Album. 

The final assembling of the LP was finished on Wednesday, October 16^th and Thursday the 17^th. It was finally released on November 22^nd, 1968 and was the #1 album in the US and the UK. It was named the ‘soundtrack to counterculture’. It would be very difficult to pinpoint just one specific genre that “The White Album” could be categorized under.  Each of the four band members contributed quite a lot to the making of the album but it was clear looking back at their musical styles and recording sessions that things were getting rocky. In late 1968 there were quite a bit of financial affairs that weren’t being dealt with and the other boys were beginning to become irritated with Johns’ infatuation with Yoko. Although there were problems, it must have been hard to imagine that they’d no longer be a band just two years later!  Fans still went wild for The Beatles music, no matter what style it was they played, their financial standings, or their relationship together as a band. For fans then and now, all 93 minutes and 35 seconds of “The White Album” was worth paying for and listening to again and again.

Works Cited

The Beatles White Album. Web. 01 Aug. 2011.

<http://www.beatlealbum.com/>.

Gould, Jonathan. Can't Buy Me Love: the Beatles, Britain, and America. New York:

Harmony, 2007. Print.

Spignesi, Stephen J., and Michael Lewis. Here, There, and

Everywhere: the 100 Best Beatles Songs. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2004. Print.

Blog Assignment #3

On the Beatles walking tour in London, I saw quite a few sites I never imagined I get to see.  Our first stop along the way was SOHO square.  Unfortunately there was construction around the perimeter but I still got to see some of the park area.  While our tour guide was telling us some background history of the Beatles, I unknowingly stood right in front of what is now PML, McCartney Productions Limited, the actual office of the one and only Sir James Paul McCartney! Not only that, it is also one of the worlds largest privately owned music publishers.  Obviously, Paul (as well as The Beatles) has/have had an enormous impact on the music business of London.

The next stop that allowed me to see up close the impact that The Beatles and popular music of the 1960’s had on London was the Bag O Nails club on Kingly Street.  So many famous bands played there that there’s a sign on the buildings façade that lists them!  Some of the artists that I remembered were obviously The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Animals, and Tom Jones, James Taylor, and Eric Clapton.  I would consider those some pretty notorious names!  Not only was this music club significant because so many famous musicians performed there, also because one specific famous person met his future wife there.  Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman first met at the club in 1967. She was there taking pictures of Georgie Fame for her work as a professional photographer.  They married in March of 1969, only knowing each other for less than two years.

After seeing the Bag O Nails club, we walked a little farther to Carnaby Street.  Carnaby street has been considered the center of fashion in London for many years.  Although it’s shops today are a little less independent and include more main-stream clothing companies, it’s still a popular place for young people to shop and find the latest trends.  When The Beatles were around they shopped at many different stores on Carnaby street to find the best fashion.  As soon as fans found out, all they wanted to do was to come to Carnaby street, find the outfits the Beatles were wearing, and copy their style.  I thought to myself how I would feel if I was a Beatle and everyone wanted to wear what I was wearing no matter how expensive, inexpensive, ugly, psychadelic or eccentric it was.  Then I thought about how they felt being chased down by crazed fans in the stores they were visiting and it made sense to me that they began to shop elsewhere.  Although The Beatles only shopped on Carnaby street until their fans found out, they certainly influenced style upon the youth of London.

After seeing Carnaby street, (I may be getting our tour out of order) we walked to Savile Row.  This street would otherwise be insignificant if it weren’t for The Beatles.  3 Savile Row is the location of the famous “rooftop show” that the band performed on the 2^nd of January 1969, John, Paul, George and Ringo went up on the roof of the studio to record live songs meant to be in their film “Let It Be”.  There were still so many people that showed up even though the ‘concert’ was completely un-announced.  After a few songs police showed up to get them to stop playing because they were disrupting the peace but it didn’t stop them until they were finished.  The attitude the boys had was that they didn’t care what the police would have done, it would have been cool to get arrested for playing music because it was what they wanted to do and rules didn’t matter to them.  Their attitude in this situation and many others was similar to a rebellious teenager who doesn’t care about societies rules.  I feel as though the Beatles influenced music culture and indirectly pushed a certain lifestyle.  It was cool to do things you weren’t allowed to do, so getting arrested during their rooftop performance would have made it better for them.

The Beatles were so popular then that they’re fame still reigns in London today.  Although Liverpool was definitely more directed towards tourists interested in The Beatles, there are still signs of them everywhere.  One place that radiates their underlying charm and impact is the SOHO mural near Carnaby street.  If you look closely, (at this zoomed in image) the mural sort of resembles the Sgt. Peppers album cover.  With many different people around but four significant characters at the center close to the front.  Even after the band broke up and members died, their legacy still lives on in a huge way.

The all time favorite spot of Beatles enthusiast tourists in London has got to be Abbey Road.  It is after all, the most copied photograph in the world!  When we got their I wasn’t even sure if it was Abbey Road or not because it looks so different from how it does on the album cover taken 40 years ago.  But after getting to walk across, take pictures, and sign my name outside of EMI studios on the graffiti covered wall, it felt much more real to me.  I have wanted to do that since I was a little kid!  It was truly an amazing experience and something that I’ll never forget.

Liverpool Assignment #2

Going to Liverpool was one of my favorite things I’ve done during the whole trip so far.  Although visiting Darwin’s house was an amazing experience, I found Liverpool to be an exciting aspect of the trip and really allowed me to have a different view of the things we’ve learned about in class.  Learning something about the Beatles is one thing but actually going to the place that their stardom began is another.  During just two days in Liverpool I learned much more about The Beatles and their early lives than I imagined I would. After visiting the Beatles Museum, riding the Magical Mystery Tour Bus, listening to Beatles Tribute bands at the Cavern Club and going on a tour of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s homes, I felt like I had really had the full Beatles experience! Their adolescence, growing up in Liverpool would surprisingly impact each member quite a bit.  I learned not only about their young lives but also how exactly they did effect their futures.

When I found out that I got the opportunity to go on a tour of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s homes I was unbelievably excited!  When we went on the Magical Mystery Tour, we got to drive by and get out and take pictures of their homes but I was in shock when I found out we would get to go inside of them and that they had been restored to look exactly like how they did at the time each of the boys were living there.  First was Johns’ house called Mendips (AKA his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George’s house) where he spent most of his time.  The most interesting part to me was the fact that John really didn’t seem to have it very rough.  They lived in a rather middle class neighborhood in suburbia and weren’t bad off.  Although I did learn that Mimi would host college students at her home during the school year, which I’m sure made things a little more difficult for John growing up with strangers in his house for only a little while.  The reason he wasn’t living with his mother and father Julia and Alfred Lennon during the early years of his life was because they abandoned him.  When John was only 5 years old his father made him choose whether he wanted to stay with his mother in Liverpool or go live with him in New Zealand.  John chose to stay but Julia wasn’t the most successful mother.  Her younger sister Mimi took over and John then moved into the house that I got to tour.  I learned that Mimi was a bit strict when it came to the company John allowed himself to be surrounded with and also his style of music.  She very much opposed him playing in a rock and roll band.  Unlike his mother who bought him his first acoustic guitar, Mimi wanted him to finish school and become something important.  Around the time when Julia came back into John’s life, she left again only this time permanently.  While walking home from Mimi’s house, Julia was hit by a car and killed. 

John says later that he felt like he had lost his mother twice, once when she abandoned him and he had to live with Mimi and again when she passed away in July of 1958.  This obviously had a huge impact on his life.  When Paul McCartney entered John’s life, there wasn’t necessarily an automatic connection, but when both of their mothers died there was certainly a close bonding present, possibly an unspoken one.  Loosing a parent at any age is difficult but for the boys they were both still teenagers.

The way that John’s mother influenced him while she was alive and present in his life was definitely through music.  She taught him to play banjo and he then learned how to transfer banjo chords onto the guitar she bought him.  He was also always allowed to practice playing music at her house without worry.  Since Mimi didn’t like rock and roll, she was hesitant about him playing at all.  Julia impacted John even after her death and through her absence, which is probably why he wrote the song Julia for her later in his life on The Beatles (The White Album).

John’s mother taught him about music and so did Paul’s.  When I went to Paul’s home I stood in the living room where they used to play records and piano and sing every night after dinner.  Paul and his brother were taught by their parents about melody, harmony, and how to sing.  Paul later said that this is why it came so naturally to him to sing falsetto and become so easily harmonized with John.  Paul’s father would also play classical music on his record player for the boys because he wanted to like it instead of rock and roll.  This might have been what caused Paul to write songs using more piano and classically influenced pieces.  His parents quite obviously cared about him enough to push him to do well, specifically in school.  He was accepted into grammar school where he met George Harrison on the bus to school.

The proximity of the 4 Beatles homes in Liverpool was another thing that I was surprised to find allowed them to become a band.  Once Paul had joined forces with John in the Quarry Men, he suggested George Harrison join their band because he was an amazing guitar player even at such a young age.  John was skeptical but once Paul introduced the two and he played for him, he was in.  They met on their bus ride to school and in about 15 years they were together as possibly the most famous and influential band of all time.

Another aspect of our trip to Liverpool that made me think was the Magical Mystery Tour Bus ride that went to all the important sights that inspired the boys to write some of their most famous songs.  A place where “nothing is real” and there’s “nothing to get hung about” that seemed to influence John in a tremendous way; Strawberry Fields Orphanage.  Although we didn’t get to go in, we did get out of the Magical Mystery Bus and take pictures in front of the bright red gate that says Strawberry Fields.  I learned during the tour that Strawberry Fields was a place that John would go as a young man to be alone and hang out.  His Aunt would tell him that he’d get in trouble for trespassing but he didn’t seem to care.  Obviously the song is about this place but I feel like there is a lot of deeper meaning(s) that could be interpreted from it because it was so influential to him as a boy.

Growing up in Liverpool influenced The Beatles as people and as a band.  Obviously other things along the journey helped The Beatles and their success but going to the place where they started really helped me to understand how they became famous. 

The Lake District

The adventure continues.  Sunday morning we got up early and caught a train that took us to another train that took us to another train that took us to another train that took us to another train that finally took us to a bus that took us to Holly How Hostel in Conistan in the lake district.  Our hostel was very quaint and nice even though there was a fire drill at 1:30 AM.  Early this morning we walked down to the lake and rented a row boat.  It was really cheap and we got to be out on the lake for about an hour.  The view there was absolutely beautiful and we had such a great time!  After we row boated, we took a hike 3 miles into a very small town to find a restaurant where I tried parsnip crisps which are actually my new obsession.  Along the 3 mile walk, I saw a ton a animals that I'd never actually been up close to. Including a peacock and a ton of baby sheep!  So cute!  This seems out of place in my story...But while at the Manchester Piccadilly train station on the way to the lake district, I was buying some coffee and.. apparently I was pick pocketed!  My wallet was stolen right out of my purse and I was completely unaware until I tried to go to the ATM a few minutes later and noticed that my wallet wasn't in my bag anymore.  I'm still sort of in shock about the whole thing but I've had a lot of help from the friends that I've made here. If it weren't for Hannah, Cheshire, Kim and Nina the past day or so, I don't know what I would have done.  If you're reading this, thank you guys for letting me use your phone, letting me borrow money and being there to keep me sane! :)


I think this song is appropriate


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBDF04fQKtQ 

Beatles

Since we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum, I thought I'd add one that I found online!  I felt like this one represented their influence on clothing style, hair style and attitude of the 1960's.

Beatles blog 1 - BME

As time went on and their fame progressed, The Beatles became icons of the British and American youth.  If they were to have their hair a certain way, boys wanted to have hair like them.  If they sang in a particular style, bands wanted to copy them.  Just as Paul, George, and John had wanted to copy their predecessors Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley, new bands and young people wanted to copy The Beatles. They were the ultimate form of cool and everything that young people at the time wanted to be.  Their looks and style weren’t the only things on their minds and certainly weren’t the only things however, especially in the later years of their music career.  After going to the British Musical Experience I felt as though my hypothesis about counter-culture of the 1960’s being influenced by the Beatles who fed off of previous culture was becoming more valid.   As cultural icons, The Beatles directly influenced young people to change their music taste, hair-styles, fashion sense, become more liberal, and overall change their outlook on life and their future.

While at the BME, I spent the most time in the rooms that involved music of the late 50’s up to the early 70’s.  My reasoning for being in those rooms the most wasn’t just because they’re the time we’re learning about but also because that period is one of my favorite spans of time for music.  And I think a lot of people would agree!   In each room at the BME, there were large monitors displaying images that you could scroll and click on.  Each image came with a short story, video or clip from what seemed to be a magazine or newspaper.  I found quite a few of them to be interesting and really inspiring.  One in particular that caught my attention was entitled “Beatnik Behavior”.  Although it doesn’t involve The Beatles directly, I felt as though they were indirectly but accurately represented by the term “Beat Generation”.  As the artists of the time transformed their styles from traditional jazz into skiffle bands that morphed into the more rock and roll genre, their audiences followed.  Those who didn’t agree with the culture that came along with the music, stayed in the traditional jazz phase or as the BME exhibit referred to them as, ‘trad-dad’s’.  But those who did (quite possibly those considered to be baby boomers), we’re in it for good.  The fans of the Beatles were so dedicated they would even change their overall style to be like them.  As the music became less conservative, so did the clothing.  Beatnik style was considered appropriate by the counterculture age but not so much by the adults.  Overtime, The Beatles progressively seemed to become more open with their political views.  Through their songs and sometimes their actions, they showed the world that they were against the war and all about peace, love, and happiness.  As the Beatles and other bands with similar views made more music about the subject, war protestors seemed to be quickly coming out of the woodwork.  Although John Lennon was the most well known for being against the war and completely liberal, his band mates felt the same way.  Another thing article that I found while at the BME was one on the Bed-In Protests made by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  This was another example of the Beatles publicly showing their views on the war and young people accepting it and following the trend.

The Beatles and other bands of the 1960’s influenced so many young peoples lives at the time and I’d love to see how the bands of today can compare to them with my generation in the years to come.  Although The Beatles are still insanely popular today, the evolution of musical influence on teenagers can’t stop at The Beatles…or can it?

first day at Harlaxton

Hey everyone!


As of today, I'm officially staying at Harlaxton Manor! Our room is actually very spacious and comfortable.  Plus we have a bay window and lovely view outside (we're on the top floor).  I have two roommates, Cheshire and Matea who are both really awesome :)


It's only been 4 days and I've already had some really amazing experiences.  I saw Big Ben, rode the underground subway like trains (The Tube), saw Buckingham Palace, Charles Darwin's house, the O2/ British Music Experience and Westminster Abbey!  I'm learning to get used to the currency and time difference but it's very strange to me since this is my first time really staying out of US.  Tonight we're going to some sort of orientation at Harlaxton probably to learn about living here and the area.  Afterwards we plan on finding out about bike rentals so we could maybe bike to Isaac Newtons house or somewhere else interesting nearby.  Harlaxton seems to be really accommodating so I'm excited to see how these next few days go!  If I can get my camera to work I'll upload some photos of the room here and pictures from the last few days at St. Christopher's Hostel.